THE RELEVANCE OF AFRICAN T R A D I T I O N A L RELIGION IN CONTEMPORARY HEALTH CARE DELIVERY SYSTEM IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The paper examines the relevance of African Religion in contemporary health care delivery system in Nigeria viz-a-viz African Traditional Medicine and Magic, which is one of the five basic components in African Traditional Religion. The paper used the expository, comparative cum analytic methodologies for a better grasp of the subjectmatter and was based on secondary sources. It is discovered that in contemporary health care delivery system in Nigeria, African medicine is indispensable because orthodox or western medicine which is the hallmark of our health policy is limited in scope or coverage; hence a case is been made for the inclusion of African traditional medicine in our National Health Policy. This is because African traditional medicine is holistic, in that it takes care of the body, mind and spirit and that about 80% of Nigerians lives in rural areas and depends wholly or partly on traditional medicine. It is recommended that; there should be a symbiotic and complementary relationship between traditional and orthodox medicines, so as to ensure quantitative and qualitative health care delivery system for the Nigerian populace; the value(s) and practice(s) of traditional medicine should be taught from the primary school level to the tertiary level viz-a-viz African Traditional Religion so that the younger generation can appreciate and utilize the benefits of traditional medicine; and the government should make the necessary laws at all levels of government in order to give the practice and research of traditional medicine legal backing in Nigeria.